Traditionally wall framing has been effected in timber utilising timber studs extending vertically between a top and bottom plate. Noggin members traditionally extend horizontally between adjacent studs to provide additional strength and fixing points. Bracing is additionally necessary in order to maintain the wall unit in a rectangular rather than merely parallelogrammed disposition.
More recently, steel wall framing systems have been introduced wherein steel members are substituted for the top and bottom plates, studs, noggins and braces. Although steel wall framing systems possess some distinct advantages over timber wall framing systems one principal advantage of a timber wall framing system over a steel system that remains is the relative ease with which one timber member may be nailed to an adjacent timber member in an almost infinite variety of configurations. For example if one wishes to vary the standard 450 millimeter stud spacing in a wall in order to accommodate a window or perpendicular abutting wall this change is readily accommodated when utilising timber by nailing a stud in the appropriate position. Where a steel framing system is being utilised the situation however is a little different. Due to the fact that it is time consuming to drill and rivet steel channel sections, steel framing systems have utilised factory pre-prepared fixing systems. For example one system in current use utilises a series of pre-drilled slots which co-operate with lugs or bend-over tabs on adjacent members. Such systems, however, are not capable of achieving the almost infinite variety of spacings which can be achieved with timber, as a lug or bend-over tab must co-operate with a pre-drilled slot and in order to maintain the structural rigidity of a member there is a limit to the number of pre-drilled slots which may be provided and to the closeness of the spacing of such slots. Many steel framing systems are additionally complex to manufacture and require swagging of the ends of channel sections in order to fit into abutting channel sections. Some systems additionally utilise three different channel sections thus necessitating three different manufacturing steps.